BETTIAH The West Champaran administration on Friday stumbled upon two rare and ancient manuscripts, including the Durga Sahasranama Stotra, during a survey conducted as part of Gyan Bharatam Mission, a project of the Union ministry of culture, officials said.
District magistrate (DM) Taranjot Singh said that the manuscripts were found in the safe custody of one Dev Prakash Pandey from Kalibagh locality of Bettiah, headquarters of West Champaran district of Bihar. He said that these documents will be preserved and made accessible for wider study and research.
“The Sahasranama Stotra, believed to be around 200 years old, has been identified as one of the rare ancient manuscripts to be uploaded to the Government of India’s important digital initiative, the Gyan Bharatam App,” said Kumar while speaking about the historical and religious significance of the manuscripts.
Sahasranama Stotra is a devotional hymn that contains a thousand names (thousand names) of a deity. Each name describes a quality, power, virtue, or form of the god or goddess being praised. Another untitled manuscript, believed to be about 100-years-old, is purported to be Sant Sahitya written in Kaithi language. It was also found with Pandey, said Rakesh Kumar, district art and culture officer.
Kumar added that under the Gyan Bharatam mission, manuscripts written on various materials, including paper, cloth and metal plates, and those over 75 years old, are being surveyed and documented across the country. “Following the survey in the first phase, identified manuscripts will be digitised in the second phase and published, if required, during the third phase,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Kumar added that under the Gyan Bharatam mission, manuscripts written on various materials, including paper, cloth and metal plates, and those over 75 years old, are being surveyed and documented across the country. “Following the survey in the first phase, identified manuscripts will be digitised in the second phase and published, if required, during the third phase,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}When contacted, Dev Prakash Pandey, 62, a Bettiah-based lawyer, said the manuscripts are under his custody for the past 40 years now after being handed down from one generation to another. “The Stotra is was written by my great-grandfather Bhola Nath Pandey who was an ardent devotee of Goddess Durga,” said Pandey, adding the other manuscript was handed to his father by his grandfather.